Various software products are available for generating publication quality documents. Typically, the source files may be created and manipulated as necessary by an editor or layout software application. The source files are in a format that facilitates editing by the editor or layout software application. In order to print the document, however, the source files are compiled and converted into a printer-ready file suitable for processing by a printer for reproduction.
Although the source files may be converted into rasterized files that specifically identify the pixels to be printed, such files are limited in usefulness because they are specific to resolution, make, and model of printer. Moreover, the storage requirements of rasterized files tend to increase with the square of the desired resolution.
To facilitate variable resolution, a wide variety of printers, and ease of distribution, printer-ready files are typically defined using a page description language (PDL) in modern publishing workflows. The source file manipulated by the design or layout software is used to produce a printer-ready file defined in a page description language. PostScript® (Adobe Systems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.) and Printer Control Language (PCL® Hewlett Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif.) are examples of page description languages. PDLs attempt to define elements of the document as objects such as lines, arcs, text, etc. so that printed page appearance is consistent regardless of printer platform.
Although the printer-ready file may be readily available, logical relationships between page elements is typically lost when the source document is compiled and converted into a printer-ready file. Thus, for example, distinction between document content and background is lost. Without the ability to distinguish between the two, legitimate document re-use or document element re-use is compromised.